Any day, we should have had them in SA, that ODI series was tighter than any one cares to say. Reckon NZ would be decent money for the trophy itself let alone beating a Saffie team in the sub-continent.

Group A is tougher than group B (that is common sense disregarding what ICC rankings say)...It should be tough competition between first 3 teams of group A for semi-final spots....Having said that, the methodology for dividing the 2 groups is not questionable; it's true and transparent, and probably fair.

The one thing is that the dew always afffects day and night games in Pakistan to a huge extent. The toss could end being extremely crucial in this tournament.....

I think dew plays a bigger role there compared to even day and night games in India... Not sure exactly. Maybe some one with better knowledge in geography and geology and climatic conditions can correct me here, but does the fact Pakistan is not bordered by water play any part in the amount of dew we see over there?

We miss you, Fardin. :(. RIP.

Originally Posted by vic_orthdox

In the end, I think it's so utterly, incomprehensibly boring. There is so much context behind each innings of cricket that dissecting statistics into these small samples is just worthless. No-one has ever been faced with the same situation in which they come out to bat as someone else. Ever.

Funny thing is, the dew in Pakistan tends to have the same effect all the time, whereas in India (and also Sri Lanka), it varies.

In India, it's resulted both in conditions becoming crazily seam-friendly and in bowling becoming very difficult due to the wet ball (and sometimes it's also had no notable effect). In Pakistan, always it seems to be the latter - the non-bracketed latter. In India it generally seems to depend on time of year - in October, it's more often a case of seam-friendliness, in March, more often sopping-ball-syndrome. Whereas in Sri Lanka it more often seems to vary from venue to venue regardless of time of year - in Dambulla day\nighters always make seam-friendly into very seam-friendly, whereas in Columbo day\nighters the night never seems to have much effect.

Does anyone know, also, what time the games in the Champions Trophy will start at? I've seen games in Pakistan that've tended to be starting at 1PM, but then also games that start at 10AM (earlier than a day game would start over here ). These decisions seem to have been influenced by the dew, but starting earlier has never seemed to me to solve any problems at all.

The one thing is that the dew always afffects day and night games in Pakistan to a huge extent. The toss could end being extremely crucial in this tournament.....

I think dew plays a bigger role there compared to even day and night games in India... Not sure exactly. Maybe some one with better knowledge in geography and geology and climatic conditions can correct me here, but does the fact Pakistan is not bordered by water play any part in the amount of dew we see over there?

Usually in Pakistan we get Day/evenings games which means the match starts at 11 a.m and it goes uptill 7 p.m so due dosen't play up as a huge factor.